Ismail Goussa

Music Magazine Comparison

Music magazines are magazines dedicated to music and the music culture. Depending on the genre, they generally
contain music news, gossip, interviews and reviews. The cover of the magazine must reflect the genre and audience
they are appealing to.

Certain magazines represent different genres, for example New Musical Express is a music magazine that kept up
to date with the indie rock genre of music, its target audience is mainly men aged 17-30. Another example of a
music magazine is VIBE, they have an R&B genre. Their main target audience would be teenagers judging on the
language used and the latest new R&B singers are presented on the front of VIBE magazines such as Katy Perry,
Beyonc and Rihanna which appeals to a younger generation. Its possible to decipher the genre of the music
magazine cover from the colour schemes and the musicians represented on the front cover and article.

Magazine One Cover and Article:

Magazine Cover Article

Billboard

I presume Billboard magazines genre is focused towards the Pop Culture. The latest hits, exclusive and unravelling
reportings on the latest news, trends across all genres of music. Pop magazines tend to have big tile blocks and
quite colourful. The Billboard brand/title block is at the top, bold and has primary colours filling in some letters and
also contrasts against the central image making the title stand out more.

The central image and the main feature headline is of American Pop artist, Beyonc, who is one of three to have
achieved more than 20 chart toppers, first being Madonna (46), Rihanna (30) and Beyonc (22). Her popularity and
massive fan base makes the magazine more attractive to music lovers. The background is a plain white colour to
focus on the artist and the title. The artist is using a direct mode of address to interact more with the reader as eye
contact is being made and her facial expression can easily be seen. There are also words from the artist herself I
want to be an icon to make it more personal to the reader. The masthead has artists listed such as Christina
Aguilera. I believe the target audience for this magazine based on the cover is that its for all sorts of people as
Beyonc has an international following.

Based on the Brand Overview, I believe Billboards audience is universal, they are popular in all technology especially
branching out to new technology; such as social media. Billboard have an engaged and active social following of
over 12 million fans which represents the great influence they have. Their audience demographic is 57% female and
43% male with the average age being 37. The article has an image of another Pop Artist, Ariana Grande to further
confirm the genre of this magazine being about Pop.
 Ismail Goussa
Magazine Two Cover and Article:

The music magazine Q has similar conventions to the magazine Billboard. Q, like Billboard is another music
magazine that covers Pop music. The title block is bold and in capital, placed on the left-hand corner and in vibrant
red making it hard not to spot at a shelf.

The central image is a close up shot of Adele. I believe she was put on the front cover of Q as its a magazine
concentrated on Pop and she falls under that genre. The artist giving eye contact would attract more consumers as it
makes it more personal and easier to notice. Adeles facial expression/ body language could make her perceived as
provocative as she has a flirtatious pose. This could appeal more to a male audience as her gaze deliberately catches
consumers attention. Adele on the front cover and Lady Gaga in the article have been sexualised to appeal more to
male audience as Qs audience is predominately male. Another similarity both magazine covers have a very simple
colour scheme which makes the cover look sophisticated.

Q uses a red, white and black colour scheme to focus on the title block and the main anchorage text, the white
background is used to make the main image of Adele stand out, another convention both Billboard and Q used.
However Q magazine looks brighter than the Billboard cover as the colour red stands out and the use of high key
lighting, the Billboard cover has less colour as the central image has darker tones of lighting. The use of gold for The
300th Issue demonstrates an exclusive edition, it moreover makes this specific issue more celebratory as gold has
connotations of glamour which reflects on Adele. This promotion appeals the consumer to purchase a copy.

The headline ADELE captures our attention as its got the largest text size, after the title block. This convention has
also been used by Billboard as the anchorage text is of Beyonc in almost the same style, bold and white font text. It
informs us what the contents of the magazine will be. The strap line BLOWS US AWAY and other cover lines have a
big difference in text size compared to the headline, this is so it can stand out the most. The strap line could indicate
that theres gossip about Adele or exclusive news that will intrigue the audience to know more. The target audience
for this magazine is for people of the average age of 34 which is close to the age of Adele, which makes it relatable
and much more personal for the audience.

The article looks sophisticated as it follows the same colour scheme as the front cover as there is a large letter on
one of the pages, the use of bright red against the black text and white background makes it bold and stand out.
 Ismail Goussa
Magazine Three Cover and Article:

Kerrang

This music magazine, Kerrang! is much different compared to the other Pop magazines, Billboard and Q. This is
because their target audience and genre is dissimilar so different conventions must be used to suite the target
audience. Kerrangs target audience is of fans for rock and indie music, a young male and female demographic,
Kerrang appeals to the target consumers by providing contents of hard rock and news of well-known icons in the
Rock scene. The masthead is very bold and brings the readers attention as it is the biggest text size on the page, the
cracked effect on the text shows the aggression and represents the theme of rock. The exclamation mark at the end
makes it more dramatic as if its been shouted.

The central image is a mid-shot of Jared Leto, a musician from the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars. All three
magazines use a trending/popular celebrity of the genre and all three artists use direct mode of address. Unlike the
other two Pop music magazines, Kerrang has a much younger audience which is why it may have a less professional
looking magazine cover compared to the other music magazine, Q. This cover looks cluttered with cover lines and
buzzwords. The anchorage text is to inform the consumer of who the central image is of. Its in red to stand out
against the black.

The Kerrang article did not follow the same colour scheme as the front cover is white, red and black and the article
has a colour scheme of yellow and grey. The band Architects have a page dedicated to them, this can appeal to the
reader as it will attract those who admire the band and want to see what the article entails.